DA4b Swan Song
by Ameslan
Summary: Condensed from Lady In Distress and The Reckoning. Focuses on the CYGNUS and the Nortanian race. Edited in relevant events from previous stories. A tribute to my roommate who died of cancer.


**SWAN SONG**

(A plot concept by the late Zach Durkin, authored by Brian Moore)

Condensed from the 'b-plot' of the stories: RIDING SILENT THUNDER PARTS I & 2

(WORKING TITLE: MIDNIGHT OF DESPERATION

Intended as a sequel to DAWN OF HOPE and prequel to ARCHANGEL RISING)

**PRELUDE**

RIDING SILENT THUNDER PART I- LADY IN DISTRESS

ALTERNATE TITLE: THE TANELORN GAMBIT

**(Note: The following is not part of the SWAN SONG incident itself but is included as events contained within are either directly or indirectly related to the incident. This information may help the reader or any subsequent reviewer to have a better understanding of the incident's background and the command decisions that were made. For further information, please see the footnote at the head of actual file. References within this file are made to the RENEGADE'S BLOOD incident which occurred approximately 2 weeks prior to these events. Since RENEGADE'S BLOOD took place on Na'anac and the planet has since fallen to enemy forces, the local evidence is deemed tainted. Although not considered official, the log entries indicate this sequence of events: The frigate GOSHAWK was transporting multiple Rogue-class fighters to the planet to augment Alliance defenses. Soon after arrival, the frigate was attacked and crippled. The crew used the Rogues to abandon ship and defeat the attacker. Since the governing body had been kidnapped, the Rogues were then employed to effect a rescue. During these events, Jarrad was injured and O'Camp saved his life by killing the attacker O'Camp's logs note this is the first time he had ever killed someone in hand-to-hand combat. The Alliance personnel were eventually victorious over the threat forces but several lives were lost in the process Dermon's logs make multiple references to a female Bajoran observer who was one of those lost and equates his fondness for her with his fondness for the CYGNUS engineering support craft project he had designed--from his personality profile, it can be only assumed the two had begun a romantic involvement. The frigate RAVEN is subsequently dispatched to replace the Rogues that were destroyed and the destroyer MAELSTROM is assigned as an escort. The Starfleet heavy cruiser GALLOWAY, which was monitoring Federation interests in an adjacent sector arrives as events climax and returns the crew of the GOSHAWK to the Epsilon Drakmär system.)**

(Footnotes are added to chapter headings where needed to explain plot holes that are in included in main story but removed from this text due to complexity of extended narration not being relevant to this story)

Station Log; Stardate: 48996.2, Commodore Zach Dermon recording. The TANELORN-A is now 8 1/2 hours into her shakedown cruise. She is scheduled to be engaging the LARRGN-Z in the vicinity of Cromuria for a surprise 'Peak Performance' test of battle simulation ability. The RAVEN and the MAELSTROM are due to be arriving within the next couple of hours after having some moderate damage repaired at GALLIFREY STATION.

"Commodore, we are reading what appears to be a high warp signature approaching the Spacedock from the direction of Romulan territory" O'Camp's sudden appearance on Dermon's comm panel so surprised the SPACEDOCK CHARLES DARWIN's new commanding officer that he forgot he could simply reply from his command console. The fact was that he had been so engrossed in familiarizing himself with the senior command files and policies for the past four hours that the surprise left him completely disoriented. Due to his disorientation, Dermon leaped out of his chair and charged out of his new office. Forgetting the office was now at the end of the upper level's circular walkway, he nearly careened headlong over its railing. He recovered quickly, trying to cover his mistake by making it appear as though he intended all along to simply lean against the railing as he asked...hoping nobody would notice that he was grasping at straws,

"What dlo you mean 'appears'?" Puzzled, O'Camp slowly shifted his gaze from the Operations Command Systems Auxiliary Control Center to Dermon, glanced back and shrugged as he made eye contact with Lieutenant Sipal, the Vulcan operating the Primary Science Station. The scientist took this as her cue to reply to the Commodore's question,

"The use of the word 'appears' is inaccurate, sir. There is a definite high warp signature in the position indicated by the Captain. The reason 'appears' was applied is that the vessel responsible for the signature is traveling through the Shadowlands just outside scanner range of GALLIFREY STATION. There is also the possibility that said vessel in question may be cloaked." Dermon sighed and rubbed his fatigued eyes as he paused to think. Moments later, he addressed Mainframe,

"Specialist, how many ships do we have available that are able to handle this type of situation? Only include the ships that can be launched in time to intercept an appreciable distance from us". The android cocked his bald, metallic head slightly and his yellow eyes began moving as though they were reading something that no one else could see as he processed the request. Dermon put the time to good use by steeling himself for the Specialist's response, which he anticipated to be the usual long-winded and overly technical sort. The Commodore was almost surprised when his comrade replied,

"There are none available, sir". Now it was Dermon's turn to look puzzled. From the edge in his friend's voice, O'Camp could tell he was more annoyed when he responded,

"NONE! Out of the dozen or so ships currently docked, not one can be dispatched to handle this situation? We should have ships ready around the clock to be prepared for any contingency." Just then, Yeoman Asimov stepped out of the Commodore's office and, in an effort to alleviate the tension, asked,

"Where are the RAVEN and the MAELSTROM? How soon are they due in?" Lieutenant Sipal replied while glancing at her monitor,

"They are one hour and forty minutes distant, which puts the ships 35 minutes ahead of the intruder"

"Our ambassador is on board the RAVEN, so divert the MAELSTROM and send half of the returning corvettes for support". O'Camp ordered and Lieutenant Commander Karatall, the Klingon/Human mix who was operating the Primary Operations Station, complied with his usual efficiency. Dermon then sighed heavily as he reentered his office to complete Yeoman Asimov's briefing. In his gruff voice, Karatall addressed the Spacedock's First Officer,

"Captain the fault is mine for the lack of preparation and I do apologize"

"Then by all means take whatever means necessary to rectify the situation". O'Camp replied with a tight smile.

(The intruder turns out to be a Romulan scout ship. When the MAELSTROM prepares a boarding party, a cloaked Warbird destroys it. The fighter contingent causes moderate damage to the Warbird and it retreats. The scout is then towed back to the Spacedock and the pilot informs them that the Cardassian ambassador to Romulus wants his old friend Jarrad to help him to defect.)

Commodore Dermon was just about to go off duty when the RAVEN returned. He frowned as this meant that he now had to escort Maarte to meet the new ambassador from Na'anac. The Spacedock's commanding officer found himself fervently hoping, even wishing, that this new ambassador was not another female. With Pyl's recent death, he found the Na'anacite females' natural innocent sensual charm to be quite annoying. He need not have worried about another female. It was not. Stiiv, it turned out was even a distant cousin of Maarte's and they immediately began jabbering away in their melodious native tongue. A relieved Dermon gave her permission to give the new ambassador a tour of the facility.

Now that Dermon was officially off duty, he intended to do some brushing up from the Romulan tech database. His memory of his Academy extension class would not do to give that scout a good once over. The captured ship was still a couple hours away and Dermon wanted to get a jump on the diagnostic as soon as it arrived. He was sure O'Camp would want to be informed, but the engineer wanted his exec to get some sleep first. That was the same reason he was delaying informing sickbay of the fate of the two Alliance vessels' crews. He was purposely waiting until Dr. Aulius came on duty, as he knew Vitro hated paperwork, especially death certificates.

Station Log; Stardate: 48996.8. It has been 9 hours since I informed the Admiral of the situation on the Romulan home world. According to Lieutenant Sipal's calculations, the TANELORN should be crossing the border any time now. On the home front, as a compromise to all concerned parties, I have ordered that the Romulan scout remain outside the Spacedock's dry dock while our teams go over it. At the Romulan ambassador's request, we will be returning the scout as soon as the teams conclude their survey. I cannot help the feeling that something more is afoot as so many diverse dramas unfold on my first day of command.

"So how do things look? Do we have a gold mine or scrap metal?" Dermon asked O'Camp as the engineer peered over his XO's shoulder. The former intelligence agent was seated at the scout's version of the engineering Master System's Display.

"Both, I have good and bad news for you. The bad is that the pilot is a rebel P'linza-cult spy. The good is that the driver for their warp core is the only thing that is completely shot. It seems that our fellow pilot was running everything on manual override. He was also running a 50 nanosecond delay on the input to hardware phase differential, which is why the forced artificial quantum singularity is depleted". The computer operations manager replied, his gaze never wavering from the monitor. Dermon furrowed his brow as he asked,

"Let me guess, the good news explains the bad. However, that doesn't explain why you had me place those transporter pattern enhancers around that aft compartment. If you don't mind, what is in that compartment?" In response, O'Camp merely pointed at the monitor in front of him. As he stared, Dermon felt a vague sense of familiarity at the image. It took him nearly a full minute to recognize it. When he did, the full impact of what it represented caused the blood to drain from his face. "This looks just like the computer core aboard the captured D'daridex KIITRAS, except that this one doesn't have a crashed processor—You're planning on switching the two via the transporter!…can you do that? I mean, will it work?" Dermon's eyes were the size of his combadge as he considered the implications of what they were about to do. O'Camp answered by tapping his communicator as he murmured dryly,

"Guess there's only one way to find out…O'Camp to Spacedock computer, run programs O'Camp 1, 2, 3, 3a, 4, 5, 5a and 5b". In response to the question forming on Dermon's face, the monitor flickered and went dead. Instead, he asked,

"So now that we've pulled off the intelligence coup of the week, what do we do for an encore?"

"Undo the damage that's already been done", O'Camp replied in a grim whisper as he stood. As he reached for his communicator to be beamed home, a puzzled Dermon remarked,

"Undo the damage…what?" his jaw dropped as he suddenly realized; "the TANELORN is heading into a trap! Captain, I want you and Commodore Hersh to go have a talk with our benefactor, if he has any idea of what is going on, I want to know about it!"

Fifteen minutes later, Hersh and O'Camp were at the door to the cabin assigned to the P'linza spy. They had both started out wanting to play this situation as professionally diplomatic as possible. However, his involvement in the situation with the TANELORN was making their suspicions wear thin on their mood, completely changing their attitude—for the worse. O'Camp stood in front of the door, a couple feet back with Hersh to one side, phaser drawn. The instant after O'Camp ordered the computer to open the cabin's door automatically, everything that could possibly go wrong did.

As the doors snapped open, the spy jumped up from the desk and spun to face them, hurling a fist-sized disk at them as he did. O'Camp instinctively reacted by using a forward snap kick to deflect the object into the ceiling where it went off. The concussive pulse of the nullifier grenade's primer activating flattened O'Camp. The field effect rendered the Captain's muscles flaccid, incapacitating him.

Since Hersh had been shielded from the pulse by the Romulan's body, the alien slammed into him. The two then tumbled into a heap at the opposite wall. The nullifier field was beginning to dissipate as it reached them and the adopted Nortanian prince chose the wrong moment to open his eyes. The last thing Hersh saw before his vision kicked out was the Romulan drawing a knife as he removed a device from his arm. It took Hersh only an instant to recognize the unit as a positronic inhibitor, which he knew would limit the grenade's effect on the wearer. Ignoring the panic that was welling up within him, Hersh somersaulted up into a flying roundhouse. Literally flying blind, Hersh followed up with a spinning side thrust kick. Both kicks connected solid. The blinded warrior realized he could not keep this up for too much longer as he fired off a reverse sweeping back fist. The punch produced less than the desired results as it merely grazed his opponent.

The Romulan took advantage of the opening by slashing downward with the knife. As Hersh felt the chilling shock of the blade biting into his back, he now had to quell the fear that began to rage like a wildfire up his spine and through his heart. At a loss for anything else to try, he resorted to a standard exotic Nortanian fake-out. The tactic worked, but his injury took most of the power out of the punch.

O'Camp heard his friend's call for help, but found his muscles barely able to respond. Realizing he was lying on his back with his right arm across his chest, he was struck with sudden inspiration. With supreme effort, he reached out with his index finger and tapped his communicator. He then tried to order the lights extinguished but found his tongue unresponsive. He knew he could not ask for help, so Brian opted to let the computer do it for him.

He screamed.

The Romulan's knife was heading for Antonè's heart when O'Camp's blood-curdling shriek pierced the air, throwing off his aim. The Commodore's communicator saved his life. Using the impetus of the blow to spin himself away from his antagonist, Hersh was planning to use the spin to generate the power to retaliate. Unfortunately, when he shifted his weight to his left leg, it caused a stab of pain to shoot through his injury. The surprise caused him to stumble into the nearest doorjamb and bounce off, landing flat on the floor. Hersh felt something on the floor underneath him. Realizing it was his phaser; he grabbed it and fired in the direction of the Romulan's rapidly approaching footfalls.

Two hours later, O'Camp was heading to the station's infirmary to put into motion a plan he and Dermon had been working on for the past 1 1/2 hours. On his way, he made a quick detour to the chapel. It was empty save one person, Commodore Antonè Hersh. Noting his friend's pensive expression, Brian gently set his PADD down and eased into his white clerical cloak. He opened his mouth to start a conversation, but Hersh beat him to it,

"I was 19 when I had my first kill. I was visiting my uncle with one of my family's guards as part of my training. My third night there, one of my uncle's enemies organized an assault on his home. We somehow managed to repel the first attack; but the second broke through. My guard was right next to me when he went down. I froze. All my training, practice, and experience went out the window and left me standing there like some living bull's-eye just asking to be shot. Nobody seemed to notice me until I reached toward my guard to assess his injuries. That was when the desk we had been hiding behind exploded. I quickly grabbed my guard's blaster and fired in the vague direction of the silhouetted figure that had shot him. I looked up in time to see the figure disintegrate from my shot. Just over a year later, my parents were visiting me and we decided to go visit the local marketplace. We had been there an hour when another attempt was made, this time on my father. My mother's enthusiasm about buying something from one of the vendors made him zig when a rooftop assassin wanted him to zag. The first blast only missed him by mere centimeters. The guards did a free-for-all pileup on my dad to protect him. One of them grabbed me, which put the guard in the line of fire right as the assassin opened up with a rapid-fire volley. One of the shots hit the guard in the arm and knocked us both down. In an effort to frustrate the attacker's efforts, I grabbed the guard's bolt rifle and unloaded it at the rooftop. When there were no more shots, I thought I had succeeded in scaring the attacker off. A news story later reported evidence indicated that a royal guard had been forced to neutralize the assassin by shooting her in the back. This Romulan is my third kill, but…"

O'Camp spent the next half hour ministering to his friend's wounded soul. As the two officers left the chapel, the ARCH senior chaplain confided to his superior officer,

"I am glad that I will be attending your retirement next week rather than officiating your funeral. Oh, and thanks for saving my skin." Hersh chuckled as he replied,

"Good preaching, Rev"

Ten minutes later, O'Camp strode into the infirmary followed by Admiral MacFarlane. As they entered, Vitro joined them from his office. While O'Camp handed Vitro the PADD, MacFarlane addressed Commander Scott,

"Hello cousin, how are you feeling?"

"Hi Denny, I'm fine. How is the GALLOWAY coming along?"

"The AEC has done as much work as it can. Since the technical upgrades on your K't'slk drive are classified, Captain Tanara has gone to Utopia Planitia to obtain a complete new propulsion system. She's due back in a week." Gwenn groaned and rolled her eyes. Vitro reached over and pressed a hypospray against her neck. Nurse Barco wheeled a surgical cart into position as O'Camp got on the surgical table next to the one Scott was on. As the Irishman lay down, MacFarlane sighed,

"Captain if this plan works, I am glad it's you who has to deal with her when she wakes up." Vitro applied the same hypo to O'Camp's neck and as the drug started to take effect, he replied thickly,

"If you want to thank me, you can take care of that last item for me; if you pl–"

After the surgery was complete, O'Camp piloted a Wayfarer—the Alliance's version of the Federation Runabout—to the next phase of the plan. Dermon accompanied him to perform some technical checkups.

"Well, now I see why you had Vitro put your team in stasis tubes. I was able to modify this cargo transporter for quantum resolution, yet this unit's Heisenberg compensators need to be reinitialized." The Spacedock's commander then tapped a key and the transporter began filling the room with the stasis tubes. Dermon concluded by saying, "it's all yours now, good luck but I hope you don't need it." He then sketched a two-fingered salute as he entered the airlock.

O'Camp turned and stepped up to the console. He stared at his reflection in the blank monitor for a moment. It was also the reflection of a man he had not seen in over a decade. With the prosthetics on, his reflection left an eerie feeling in his gut along with a sense of déjà vu.

"_KIITRAS computer, recognize voice imprint of Tal Shiar Major Khariyyg_." He barked in fluent Havrannsu-dialect Romulan. This was one of the most dangerous missions he had ever been on and he knew right where he now stood. The point of no return.

Lieutenant Jesùs Salvador strutted into the main dry-dock access of the SPACEDOCK CHARLES DARWIN. The young Hispanic pilot glanced casually at the dock status roster in the center of the lobby and noted that the RAVEN was assigned to bay 2. Not even breaking stride, he continued into the appropriate tunnel. Entering the personnel access for the RAVEN, he nearly walked into the unyielding airlock door. He tried a manual entry using his personal access code. The only response he got was from the access panel, which flashed the message: ACCESS DENIED. He smiled and sighed as he tapped his communicator,

"Salvador to security." A rumbling voice replied over the comlink,

"Karatall here, sir."

"Uh, señor? I am trying to reach security for the RAVEN. I am due to report in 5 minutes and I cannot seem to get on board. If you could be of assistance, I would be obliged."

"_IF_! Please hold." A second later, Salvador found himself enveloped in a transporter beam. He ended up on a transporter pad as expected. Except it was not where he expected. Rather than ending up on his ship, he was surprised to find himself somewhere within the Spacedock facility itself. The Klingon on the lower level acknowledged his arrival with a curt nod, obviously Karatall. Across from him were 2 Drakmärians. The first was a male wearing a phaser who was monitoring the other, a strikingly beautiful female. He noticed something unusual about her and realized it was her eyes. Rather than the standard pupil less red they appeared to be…violet? She gave him an appraising look and it was not until her eyebrows gave a bemused flirtatious twitch that he realized he was staring. Another attractive young female wearing yeoman's insignia approached him and smiled,

"Welcome to ops Lieutenant Salvador. I am Yeoman Asimov, please follow me."

"It would be my pleasure." His reply elicited a snicker from purple eyes. Asimov led him to an office at the end of the raised walkway. The office belonged to Commodore Dermon, whom Salvador immediately recognized from the incident that had disabled the GOSHAWK 2 weeks ago. The engineer gestured his fellow pilot toward a chair,

"Come in, Lieutenant, and take a seat." Salvador complied as Asimov took her place next to the massive desk. Dermon continued, "Congratulations on a job well done with the scout ship yesterday. Unfortunately, the MAELSTROM is a complete loss. However, that is not the reason that I have called you here. What with the increased threat from the Jerichans, we are currently in process of building up this system's defenses. Our corvette fighter contingent has finally been completed. All our squadrons have been assigned and staffed. Yet it wasn't until today that we determined the right choice for senior departmental command officer. That officer will hold the position of crew chief for Gold squadron team lead, the command squadron for this facility. That choice, Lieutenant Commander Jesùs Salvador, is you. Congratulations and good luck, these are your orders." Dermon stood and handed the new Commander a data chip. The normally incorrigible Guatemalan found himself at a loss for words for the first time in his life. As Asimov attached his new insignia to his flight suit, the stunned Salvador finally found his voice,

"¡Gloría Diós!"

Back in his quarters, Zach finally allowed himself to dwell on the moodiness he was experiencing. Part of it was due to the senseless murder of Pyl Elle, who had died saving his life two weeks ago. Another part was that he was an engineer rather than an administrator, and here he was in command of the Alliance central facility. Yet another part was that Vitro had begun to take him off his medications. One of which had the side effect of a stimulant. Lastly, he blamed himself as being part of the reason the TANELORN was in this mess. Right now, he wished he could simply do something—that is…aside from paperwork. He was almost looking forward to Commodore Hersh's soon retirement. He could then be reassigned to Starbase Nortania as that sector's Alliance Command Extension. That way he could have the Alliance Engineering Corp oversee the Aslan shipyards. Then he could at least feel useful rather than simply have his career looking good on paper. One positive note about his new position was that it legitimized his expediting the CYGNUS project. He had had the engineering support ship designated his command flagship.

A day and a half.

That was how long Lieutenant Commander Gortan Atras had estimated until the CYGNUS was ready. She was being prepped for final systems analysis and independent support technology on load. IST was merely a fancy way of saying shuttles, torpedoes etc.

"Finally." Dermon muttered. He knew he should not be so impatient about the project. It had been his own order that had prompted Karatall to reassign over half the CYGNUS team to those of the BISMARCK, NARNIA, KRIEGGOTT, and CHIEFTAIN. As an apology to O'Camp, he had also left a team working on the ARCHANGEL chaplaincy flagship/courier project. Dermon had felt it necessary to augment the fleet with at least a juggernaut, a dreadnought, a battleship, and a destroyer respectively. There were also 5 corvette squadrons and 6 wayfarers as well. It was just that when the teams had been reassigned yesterday, the CYGNUS had been only 5 hours from completion. She had been a dream of his since the academy, commanding her was the only reason he had reluctantly gone to command school before graduating. Mercifully, his instructor had agreed to tutor the young engineer informally on an independent pass/fail basis. This was done after it was quickly ascertained that his performance was putting his class standing in jeopardy.

Retiring Commodore Antoné Hersh was getting antsy. His family's royal yacht with its 3 escort craft had just arrived in the system. Since the CYGNUS had been completed the day before, Atras had suggested that she escort the royal flight in as a dry run. Dermon had agreed, but since he was so swamped with paperwork, he asked Hersh to be his proxy. There was also the fact that a good portion of the skeleton crew was Nortanian, including First Officer Atras. Because of this, Hersh thought he could establish a command relationship easier. The visiting craft were holding position outside the one of the Durkin Net's perimeter relay satellites. The net was named after Doctor Ira Durkin, the 21st century physicist who had designed the Distant Early Warning system for the Sol system. It was SPACESTATION EPSILON DRAKMÄR's primary function to monitor telemetry from the satellites. As they approached, Hersh commented on how beautiful the yacht was. Atras responded good-naturedly,

"Well sir, you've seen one Courser, you've seen them all." Hersh subconsciously adjusted his gold-lined black sash as he murmured,

"There's one in every crowd." Although he knew Atras was right. Mapping the Shadowlands by Wayfarer had proven a logistic nightmare, with the results disappointing at best. The Alliance Star Corp had then gone to Nortania for help as the system was adjacent to one of the densest sections of the phenomenon. Despite this fact, Nortania had never had any problems penetrating the Shadowlands. The Alliance had opted to refit the Nortanian Militia's scout vessel. The resulting internal transformation had resulted in the accommodations becoming somewhat claustrophobic. The yacht was the same hull style, only 3/4 the size.

"Commodore, the Courser's captain states that he is under direct orders not to navigate the system except under your command." The Drakmärian Lieutenant operating tactical announced. Hersh nodded and answered,

"Understood, have transporter 1 ready to beam me to the TREENOR's transport module. Commander Atras, you have the CYGNUS." Hersh was puzzled by Atras' comment as the lift doors closed,

"Well, since he put it that way." Followed by what sounded like a derisive laugh. Hersh dismissed it with a shrug. Five minutes later, he was on board his family's personal transport. That was when he got the surprise of his life.

"Hi honey!" Antoné's wife Katerine rushed up to the platform and greeted him with a passionate embrace. Hersh responded in kind and grinned,

"Babe, you keep that up and you won't be the only babe in this family." He had not seen her since the PATRIOT'S CRISIS incident four months ago when a group of Romulan operatives had almost succeeded in capturing the Spacedock. During that time, he had been on Nortania taking care of government business. Although he had missed the invasion, they had been able to take a second honeymoon. Coyly she replied,

"How do you think I was able to come along on this flight?" Holding hands, they entered the hallway as he answered tentatively,

"Med school summer break?" Katerine coquettishly tossed her long, wavy hair and giggled,

"No honey, that's next month. I'll give you a clue: what does a woman have to do when she's only half ready?"

"You're on maternity leave?" His eyes bugged as he stared at her abdomen. Upon entering the bridge, he said to the Nortanian captain,

"I'm going to have a baby!" Deadpan, the feline alien replied,

"Sir, I thought that was biologically impossible for human males." Katerine giggled again as Antoné sighed and shook his head. She then slid her arm around his waist, causing him to twitch and wince as she touched his injury.

"Honey, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"O'Camp and I were attacked by a spy yesterday and he managed to get a piece of my back. I'll be fine; my back will just be tender for a day or so." He informed her. Knowing her next logical question,

"O'Camp is fine. In fact, right now he's leading a rescue mission to save the TANELORN from a potential trap." A year before the Hersh's wedding, Katerine and O'Camp had dated briefly. Their breakup had been amicable and the 2 had remained dear friends. Antoné and Brian had already established a close camaraderie through a number of life and death missions. So after their wedding he had become like family. Katerine shook her head and smiled,

"That's just about par for the course for him, some things never change."

"Sir, I am reading unusual energy patterns from the CYGNUS." Ops announced. The captain purred,

"Extrapolate please." All eyes focused on ops as her claws did a rapid-fire dance across the console. Her eyes suddenly narrowed as she said,

Message incoming from the CYGNUS. Your transport caused a broad-based systemic EPS surge that forced a plasma driver shutdown. They are currently adrift." Something about this did not seem right to Hersh, he thought for a moment, then strode over to ops. The officer operating the station made a gesture relinquishing it to him. He toyed with the panel for a minute, then returned it to the duty officer,

"Rogue White squadron is on patrol and they have been diverted to tow the CYGNUS back to the Spacedock. The Spacestation on Ch'gr will monitor the CYGNUS for the next few minutes until they show up. Dermon will not be happy, so I want to get this over with." 10 minutes later, the royal flight was docked at the Spacedock. The Hershes disembarked and Antoné braced himself as Dermon approached in an air of frustration,

"What happened aboard my ship? I heard there was an EPS malfunction." Hersh nodded and frowned,

"It seems that when they beamed me over, the transport blew out the primary plasma driver coil…or some such animal." Dermon's look went from concern to disbelief and he groaned in exasperation,

"That's impossible! She has a multiphasic transitory microwave booster on her magnetohydrodynamic grid!" Noting their blank stares he continued, "That means her EPS net can provide for the basic power needs for 3 heavy cruisers, along with being able to maintain viable shields around them as well! So an EPS failure is impossible—as I said." Commodore Hersh's eyebrows knitted and he pursed his lips as he stroked his beard with a forefinger in thought. A moment later, his eyes narrowed and an eyebrow arched as he asked,

"Unless it's done on purpose! This application can be sabotaged, right?" Paling, Dermon slapped his combadge so hard that Katerine gasped, startled. The Spacedock's CO nearly shouted into the device on his chest,

"Ops, this is Dermon, put me in contact with Rogue White lead—NOW!

"Sir, they are hailing us as we speak." The duty officer operating communications replied.

"I'll take it in the dockmaster's office." He replied charging toward the room in question. Entering, he mumbled under his breath,

"If it's not one thing, it's another…why me?" The Hershes entered the office right as the comm screen winked on. Kat placed a reassuring hand on Zach's shoulder as he hung his head in response to the expression on the pilot's face. That of perplexed concern. The Lieutenant winced at Dermon's reaction and reported,

"Sir, the…the CYGNUS is not at these coordinates. There is only a gravimetric pulse indicative of a cold-start warp jump. Decay levels suggest it happened only moments ago. We are downloading telemetry from the satellite now, but the pulse has scrambled some of it."

"I want that transmitted as soon as it's compiled, Spacedock out." Dermon then turned to the dockmaster and said, "I want the MERCY prepped for departure stat." The Drakmärian nodded his acknowledgment and rushed to comply. Antoné then spoke up,

"Hate to steal your thunder, but it's going to take at least 15 minutes to have her prepped. The TREENOR and the 3 Paladins are ready to go and stand a much better chance. You take the yacht; I'll follow in the MERCY once she's ready." From behind them came Vitro's voice and the 3 turned just in time to catch him leering at Katerine,

"Remember, with all the problems we've been having with the P'linza, especially after what was said by Atras, the CYGNUS is probably in their hands. So consider it a hostile and expendable." Katerine handed her Datalink to Dermon saying,

"Here Zach, you're going to need this." The agitated Commodore slid the Nortanian version of a tricorder onto his wrist while frowning,

"I wish Pyl was here to help me figure this out. Some days it just doesn't pay to wake up!" The Hershes glanced quizzically at Vitro, who sighed sympathetically,

"Lieutenant Pyl Elle was a Bajoran/Human half-breed Rogue pilot who was murdered in the incident on Na'anac last month while saving his life. The 2 were quite close. She wouldn't have even been there if O'Camp hadn't recommended it and they are taking it out on themselves." Just then, Dermon was reaching the airlock access for the Courser, his pace stiff but determined. Katerine leaned out of the glass-enclosed office and called,

"Good luck Zach, do it to them before they do it to you. Take care and I'll see you when you get back." Dermon stopped short, smiled and waved before entering the yacht. Vitro turned to Antoné and said,

"Man, if I were you, I'd be getting suspicious right about now. You know that Dermon used to be O'Camp's roommate, right?" He shared Vitro's laugh, turned to his wife and whispered,

"Thanks Kat, that's another one I owe you babe." In reply, she smiled,

"Kiss me and we'll call it even, hon." Hersh was only too happy to comply.

Commodore Zach Dermon woke with a start to unfamiliar surroundings. He shook himself fully awake and called up the lights. Once his eyes became adjusted, he remembered where he was once he recognized the Nortanian décor. Dermon was startled once again when the door chime sounded the second time.

"Come on in." He groaned while easing himself into a sitting position as the Courser's medic entered the yacht's main suite. Moments later, the medic had completed his task and Dermon made a beeline for the TREENOR's bridge. Once there, he asked the captain,

"So what's our mission status?" The catlike alien purred,

"You wanted to be informed the minute we had something. Renay, main viewer if you please." Perhaps it was his medication, or the fact that the screen was calibrated for the Nortanian's unique eyesight. Whichever it was, when the screen 'flowed' into its activation sequence, Dermon found himself fighting off a wave of nausea.

"As you can see sir, we are picking up magnetic trace fall off pulses in this general area." The officer at ops pointed out a highlighted section of the screen and continued, "That 'shadow-cloud' is about 1000 km in diameter. Once we reach its perimeter, we will be able to ascertain a more accurate location of the CYGNUS." Dermon frowned and replied, annoyed,

"How can you be so sure that that is my ship? That could be fallout from a recent plasma storm yielding a false reading. It could also be the resonance from a tachyon eddy passing through a neutrino cloud."

"Sir, with all due respect, you're an engineer and not a scientist. I say that only because the frequency and amplitude variations between synthetic and natural phenomena are quite significant. There is also the fact that, according to policy, I did an extensive scan of the CYGNUS when we were first hailed. Compensating our present scans for the residual plasma cloud distortion, the two scans are an exact match—that's how I can be so sure." With a sigh of frustration, Dermon relented. A few tense seconds of uncomfortable silence pervaded the command center. Captain Nelson, who turned in his command/pilot's chair and spoke to Dermon, broke it,

"The MERCY will be at our position in 30 minutes. If you like, you may oversee the combat systems diagnostic in progress down in engineering."

Dermon was almost to engineering when he passed a door marked STINGER BAY ACCESS. His curiosity got the better of him and he entered the hangar. The six one-man fighter craft gleamed in the small bay's track lighting. The craft loosely resembled the ANT class work pod, slightly flattened and shortened. The main difference was the work pod had three impulse engines, the Stingers employed but one engine. Four conformed struts that branched out from the main engine that were tipped with fore-aft thrusters compensated for this deficiency. The positioning of the struts made a large 'X' on the back of the craft. On either side of the egg-shaped cockpit were twin plasma micro-rocket launchers. Extending out from those were atmospheric horizontal stabilizers. Dermon then got down on all fours and glanced underneath the compact fighter. There he found a double impulse fusion reactor. Confused as to why the main engine was only connected to one driver coil, he made his way to the front of the craft. There he discovered the other driver coil was connected to a fixed-mount type 9 phaser cannon. The engineer glanced up from his scrutiny and got startled by the close proximity of a Nortanian officer. She was wearing a flight suit and was standing on the other side of the Stinger staring intently at him. He stood as the alien spoke,

"Excuse me sir, may I help you?" Dermon stepped back from her fighter as she opened the cockpit. He then replied,

"I'm a Rogue pilot and I was curious about these Stingers, so I thought I'd take a look." The Nortanian busied herself with flight prepping her craft. Five others entered the bay and followed suit as she chuckled her response,

"Lieutenant Commander Daynel Hardison at your service, Commodore. I happen to be this Courser's flight team leader. In all honesty, I'm just a little jealous of you, sir. These fighters are simply a gun with an engine attached; they have no creature comforts whatsoever. They don't even have defensive shields—only navigational. Our computer and communication is limited to our Datalink. These Stingers are quick and powerful, but each one is only as good as its pilot, and it doesn't give a nanometer. Slick but raw. Not nearly as much fun as those Rogues must be, but then the grass is always greener…" A two-tone grinding whistle from Dermon's Datalink interrupted Hardison. Dermon stared at the unit for a second, finger poised over it. Giggling, Hardison reached over and actuated the unit's comlink toggle. Dermon grimaced a weak smile at his fellow pilot, who winked back as he addressed the Datalink,

"Dermon here." Captain Nelson's voice returned,

"The MERCY has just rendezvoused with us. We are now getting underway to intercept the CYGNUS. I would appreciate your presence on the bridge during the assault."

Hersh sat in the MERCY's command chair watching as the current chapter of his career unfolded on the tactical display. The Nortanian escort craft proceeded at full impulse while the TREENOR launched her Stinger contingent. As the MERCY led the TREENOR in at 1/3 impulse, Hersh raised his voice and ordered,

"Launch Rogue flight and keep Wayfarer on standby. _Battle stations! Red Alert!" _From ops came the announcement,

"Sir, the CYGNUS is leaving the cloud. She is presently at battle stations as well!" An instant later, the CYGNUS opened fire.

The lead Paladin took the brunt of the first volley. This caused heavy damage to its port 'wing', effectively crippling it. The second volley completely disabled the lead Rogue, cutting it in half. Part of that blast also grazed one of the Stingers, disintegrating it!

"**_NO_**!" Hersh shouted as he leaped out of his seat in response to the sudden carnage. Giving his temper a few moments to cool off, he took a deep calming breath. He then directed that the MERCY maneuver to a position between the CYGNUS and the TREENOR. During the maneuver, the slightly depleted assault force regrouped.

On board the TREENOR, Dermon's mind was racing. He was trying to figure out how the CYGNUS' firepower rating had been more than doubled. He was at the science station on the rear wall of the bridge. In his frustration, he pounded his fist against the panel and hung his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the display change. Whatever he had hit in his outburst had given him his answer!

"Have them concentrate their efforts on the CYGNUS' underside, especially the forward area. I am going to beam over and disable her." Over the active combat comlink came Hersh's reply,

"You're going to _what_? Commodore, if you go over there, it will be with at least me escorting you!" Dermon instead beamed over to the MERCY and spelled out the tactical situation for Hersh,

"Remember that I told you my ship's MHD booster? Somebody over there figured out how to repolarize the operating frequency for the shields and phasers. This was sufficient for them to effect a transverse systemic hand off. In layman's terms, they rerouted the dorsal shield power to the phasers, while doing the reverse for the ventral systems." Hersh cut in at this,

"Which would explain why we are able to keep them neutralized by staying below them. From what I understand of this, I think our best bet would be to take the Wayfarer ADIRONDACK and use her to do a proximity beam in. I'll have the Paladin DRESCA punch a hole through the impulse exhaust window to help us." Dermon replied smiling,

"That won't be necessary, I have a few engineering tricks up my sleeve that will be much more effective."

"Why am I not surprised?" Hersh chuckled as he covered his face with a hand. Dermon glanced at the Datalink's chronometer and said,

"We have to hurry. Their first assault overloaded the CYGNUS' phaser emitters. I only had the old Lithium-Copper type installed and their heat sinks aren't designed for that kind of power. They should be finished with their repairs…!" A sudden impact threw both flag officers to the floor, interrupting Dermon. The Commodores took this as their cue to make a hasty beeline for the ADIRONDACK. Minutes later, true to his word, Zach had them aboard the CYGNUS. At Hersh's recommendation, they had beamed to the battle bridge. Hersh was armed with a phaser rifle and Dermon with a Nortanian blaster. While Hersh stood guard, Dermon furiously input commands into the ops panel. His fingers literally doing what appeared to be a wild dance over the unit. A full minute later, there was an electronic grind and Dermon groaned nearly simultaneously. As Hersh turned to ask what the problem was, he saw a sparkling spill of sound and light behind the engineer and shouted,

"_Zach! Look out! **Behind you**!_" In one sweeping motion, Dermon drew his blaster, aimed and fired the instant the Nortanian materialized. There was the acrid stench of singed fur as his shot hit the alien's chest. The Nortanian was unconscious before he hit the floor. Antoné brought his rifle to bear on the general area the first had materialized, anticipating reinforcements. Dermon turned his head to say thanks and stopped short. He stared past Hersh with his mouth hanging open and his eyes bugging out. Almost without thinking, Hersh rolled backwards from his crouching position to recline on his back. He looked 'upwards' in time to see a Drakmärian firing on his former position. Hersh responded in kind, producing far better results. Dermon shook his head and muttered,

"We have to get to the saucer section's engineering substation so I can finish what I was doing." Hersh gestured toward the door at the bridge's aft section. For the next several minutes, the two flag officers engaged in a running firefight to get to their destination. Once there, Dermon completed his task and announced,

"Done. Now, in 1 minute we will…" He was interrupted by a voice from the station's office,

"Be dead, _sir_." The sarcasm literally dripped from the last word as Atras raised his Drakmärian phacer and leveled it at Dermon's head. Hersh snapped his rifle up and knocked the weapon out of the Nortanian's hand. Atras reacted by using Hersh's favorite tactic: the exotic Nortanian style fake-out. Both of Hersh's hands stung as the rifle was slammed from them. The momentum from the blow spun Hersh halfway around. Atras took advantage of this by following up with a snap kick to the back. Unfortunately, the kick landed on the same place the adopted prince had been stabbed three days ago. The sudden blinding pain forced his legs to go numb, sending him to his knees. Atras then drew his fist-blade just as Hersh's knees were hitting the floor. This gave Dermon a clear field of fire and he took the shot. The heavy stun blast slammed the Lieutenant Commander into the substation's Master Situation Monitor. On impact, the panel exploded into a shower of sparks. This explosion sent the alien to the ground to land on his knife. Gasping for breath and frustrated to tears, Dermon screamed,

"**_THAT'S FOR THE CYGNUS, YOU TRAITOR_**!" Wincing apologetically, Hersh looked at his comrade and whispered,

"'Thank you' doesn't even begin to cover it, man. Which is very small consolation." He then tapped his combadge, "Hersh to MERCY, CYGNUS secure, messy but secure."

Dermon sat on the CYGNUS' ready room chair in a slouch. His ship, his pride and joy, his career goal and dream, his baby and first love, was a shambles. The computer diagnostic alone, what there was of it, was messier than a Klingon food fight. His stomach churned as the computer's sterile version of the damage Atras and company had done scrolled silently by. Most of the algorithm protocol had been overwritten and, on top of that, every major subsystem had been rerouted. While tearing everything apart, they had not only ignored safety considerations, they had also overloaded most of the fail-safes. That had resulted in the blowout of numerous backups and had taken entire systems off-line. Because of this, Dermon's teams had had to jury-rig several major systems—like saucer section life support and artificial gravity—leaving the CYGNUS an engineering nightmare. All to get around the autonomic command priority sequences that protected the recognition cipher access security files. Just to steal her. Two hours ago, Dermon had gotten such a headache from the mess on his display that he had gone down to engineering, just to check on the damage control team's progress. Halfway there, after witnessing the reality of the damage, he had readily returned to his office. One could not go 20 meters without witnessing the fruits of the hijackers' labor strewn about a corridor. With damage control parties from all the ships working continuous shifts, the CYGNUS could be underway in two days. He sighed and groaned as he slapped his terminal off in frustration. He then buried his head in his hands and drifted into a restless sleep.

Hersh sat in the MERCY's ready room, coordinating the damage control efforts going on aboard the CYGNUS. He had been without sleep for 13 hours and the current task required his attention for at least another 5 hours. Having been raised on Nortania, certain enzymes in the food increased his constitution to the point where he could easily endure unusual physical demands. The only problem was that he had still been born human and his mental faculties were not as enthusiastic about those demands. The net result was that, although he was wide-awake, he was beginning to get moody. At this rate, he was not going to make his retirement two days from now. It was not that he did not enjoy being an officer, but he had a duty to his home government. Being that he was a part of that government which was an active part of the Alliance, the council of elders had granted him a limited retirement rather than accepting his resignation. This simply meant that when his duties were concluded, the Star Corps could draft him with a single grade loss. Otherwise, he would have had to reenlist at the bottom. Antoné tried to contact Zach to no avail. Figuring the engineer to be catching up on some much needed rest, Hersh ordered two members of the Nortanian Militia stationed in front of Dermon's office. This with the admonition that the Nortanian government would take it personally was Zach to be disturbed. Half an hour later, Telnah Ses, the MERCY's temporary chief engineer entered his office. He had placed in charge of the damage control teams and it showed on his uniform. Telnah was the Director of the Spacedock's engineering teams and had volunteered for the mission since the MERCY's crew was on a much-needed shore leave. The Trill lieutenant informed Hersh that the CYGNUS could be underway on full impulse in just over 7 hours. From there, it would take another 4 hours to get basic warp power. Ses then mentioned that if they wanted to limp it by starting out with 2/3 impulse, they could halve the time limits. Despite the risks, Hersh authorized the quicker plan.

**(Note: The following is an excerpt of the SWAN SONG incident which details the first and final mission of the DAV CYGNUS NCC-19605 under the command of Star Corp Commodore Dermon and the heroic measures taken by the crew to salvage the craft following a high-jacking attempt by enemies of the state. This text has been composed from eyewitness interviews and now declassified log entries. Investigation in this matter is now closed yet the details remain sealed in the interest of Alliance security)**

RIDING SILENT THUNDER PART II-

THE RECKONING

ALTERNATE TITLES: DEAD RECKONING, DRAKMÄRMAGEDDON

(Following a successful rescue of the TANELORN, during which the flagship was attacked and disabled, the KIITRAS tows the other starship home. Concern on the part of the command staff due to the lack of communication from the MERCY leads to Pr'gn being given command of the destroyer CHEROKEE to find the missing ship.)

_**CHEROKEE**_

"Captain, I am detecting a focused antigraviton interference pattern that does not appear to be naturally occurring. It may be a tractor beam, and it seems to be pursuing a linear course within plotted Shadowland lanes," Te'ana-L announced from the CHEROKEE's Ops station. Pr'gn rose from his position, supervising the engineering diagnostic, and ordered while striding to the command chair,

"Plot the course and execute" he then sighed and tapped the **INTERCOM **key on the chair's armrest, raised his voice and spoke,

"All hands, all stations, this is the captain speaking; report to battlestations! RED ALERT!" He then turned to Lieutenant Antuur-S at Tactical and requested,

"Shields up, arm phasers and load photons." As he complied, Pr'gn addressed the officer at the helm,

"Lieutenant, once we approach tactical acquisition range, I want you to assume a conical heading _into_ the Shadowlands to ensure us the advantage"

"Sir, assuming a warp speed conical heading into the Shadowlands while at battle stations will cause at least 10 degradation in the warp field generators" came the report from ops. The engineer replied,

"I am aware of that ensign, but thank you...How long until intercept?"

"Since that section curves away from us, 24 minutes, sir" came the reply.

Twenty minutes later, the Vulcan helmsman announced,

"Initiating conical heading now, we will be in sensor range in 3 minutes" Pr'gn knew that the other ships would be taken by surprise as the CHEROKEE's scanners had been calibrated for the specific mission and knew to look and what for. The others did not.

"Divert power from transporters to augment Structural Integrity Field and Inertial Dampeners" Pr'gn authorized. Minutes later, Antuur-S reported,

"Approaching tactical range now!"

"Full impulse, on screen" The commander replied. The screen winked on to reveal a startling scene: dropping out of warp, the TREENOR was towing the CYGNUS, while being escorted by two Nortanian Paladins. The MERCY was leading the pack towing a third Paladin that was missing a wing. Pr'gn turned to face the tactical station while saying,

"Hail the..." but was interrupted by an alert tone from the station's panel. The Drakmärian lieutenant junior grade frowned and glanced at his panel. As he glanced back up, his upswept eyebrows arched as he announced,

"No need, sir; they're hailing us" without moving, Pr'gn pointed a thumb toward the main view screen. Commodore Antoné Hersh appeared, slouching in the MERCY's center seat. He appeared haggard but alert and smiled wearily as he spoke,

"You guys are a sight for sore eyes...ah, Pr'gn, aren't you supposed to be out getting the TANELORN in and out of more trouble than it's worth again?" The engineer returned the smile saying,

"Been there, done that; I decided to try something really challenging and see what kind of trouble I could get you out of for once" the fatigued commodore winced at the junior officer's good-natured barb and tightened his expression to emphasize the seriousness of his next comment,

"Well then, I hope that you've brought more than a few engineers along, because we're going to need them" as Pr'gn peered over Te'ana's shoulder at the ops readout of the sensor sweep of the CYGNUS, his eyes bugged as he responded,

"Confirmed, CHEROKEE out" he then faced his first officer and stated,

"Gigi, they need me over there, so the CHEROKEE is yours" Lieutenant Gracie Goodman nodded her acknowledgment and addressed Antuur,

"Stand down red alert, secure from battle stations"

An hour later, they were again underway. This time, the MERCY was towing the crippled CYGNUS, the CHEROKEE was taking the lead and the TREENOR was bringing up the rear with her escorts flanking. The damaged Paladin was now being towed by the TREENOR. Pr'gn had reorganized the repair efforts into 10 double team 1/2 hour rotational shifts. This meant that at any given time, there were 5 teams on task with 5 teams taking a break but monitoring progress and switching off every 30 minutes. The new schedule was more efficient and halfway through the second day the CYGNUS was underway at warp 3.5 under her own power. The fact that his ship was faring so much better pleased Dermon to no end and he resumed command when Pr'gn returned to the CHEROKEE. Back in his own element, Dermon actually came up with a way to get the Paladin back under it's own power. Hersh and Pr'gn came up with a plan to remove the other wing, but Dermon took pity on the ship's commander. He rebuilt the warp engine using parts from nearly a dozen of the TREENOR's starburst torpedoes. As he rebuilt the engine, Dermon took extensive notes on Nortanian engineering, fully realizing how important those notes would soon become to his career plans.

Commander's log; Stardate: 49001.3. I am taking the CHEROKEE back to the Spacedock early. The engineering teams I left aboard the CYGNUS have the problem well in hand so I can get back to my TANELORN. I will only beat them by 1 1/2 hours, but I prefer my department to my own command. Knowing my luck, someone in one of those highfalutin' councils will use this experience as an excuse to give me my own command. We will exit the Shadowlands in 5 hours and be home 25 minutes later.

_**CYGNUS**_

"May I sit with you sir?" Lt Ses looked up from his PADD to see Lieutenant (junior grade) Petmuus standing in front of him holding a plate of food. The Trill nodded and replied in the other's native Nortanian,

"_Of course, to what do I owe the pleasure_?" Petmuus paused in surprise at Telnah's command of his language and then sat. Ses waited while the security officer took a capsule out of his pants pocket, crumbled it on his entree and took a few bites. Ses commented,

"_Bet you can't wait until they find a way to replicate your food with the metabolic enzymes already in it, huh_?" Bari smiled,

"_Don't you know it, sir? How is it that you know my language so well? Most humanoids find it quite challenging_."

"_In the past 1500 years, the Ses symbiont has had 17 hosts, 3 of which have served on Nortanian vessels. The last was the Grand Paladin KEZNOR BEETLE_."

"_No kidding? My great-grandmother was the chief of security on that ship_."

"_I remember her. Fair woman, a little rough around the edges but she made sure her people knew how to do their jobs right. I was only there for 6 months, she didn't come down to engineering much and when she did, it was never socially_."

"_Thanks. I never knew her. Anyway, I was doing the latest 'Shadowcat' telemetry read and found that there is a path that we could take that would get us home faster. I know that the Commodore is anxious to get back home and all. The one caveat is that with its enhanced shielding; only the CYGNUS could make it_." The 'Shadowcats' were a special high-powered Nortanian probe used by the Alliance to map the Shadowlands continually since the cloud formations were always drifting and a ship colliding with a plasma cloud at warp 5 was always deadly. The name was short for: Shadow(land) c(artographic) a(cquired) t(elemetry). As Bari quickly finished his meal, Telnah pored over the telemetry in question. When he finished, the Trill also stood and said,

"Let's take this to the captain." The Nortanian winced in reply,

"According to my personnel records I'm officially to have no contact with anyone above the rank of department head or lieutenant."

"Say what? Oh please! Who was the brain trust that came up with THAT bright idea?"

"My old captain, Tor'vo-V as part of the disciplinary process when I served aboard the CHIEFTAIN."

"I remember that. He brought back the CHIEFTAIN, just barely I might add since it turned into _MY_ headache, dropped off several crewmembers, and demanded to be issued another ship all the while making a big stink about everything. I understand that he was the nephew of a council member that is why he was issued the STORMWIND immediately. Last we saw of him or that ship." Ses tapped his communicator and addressed it, "Bridge this is Lieutenant Ses, please inform Commodore Dermon I'm on my way to report to him." A voice on the other end acknowledged and closed the channel. After the lift doors opened at the bridge, Petmuus simply glanced at them uncomfortably but seemed unwilling to exit. Ses smirked and winked,

"I could make it an order since I do outrank you." Bari sighed and tentatively stepped onto the bridge. His eyes swept the bridge that was quite similar to the one he had served on years ago. He paused for a moment to gaze longingly at the CYGNUS' version of his old station, tactical, which was not very different. The two lieutenants heard talking coming from the front of the bridge and turned to face the only two occupants. The two were making small talk about the planet Nortania. Sitting at the helm was a Nortanian female who seemed to recognize Petmuus. At ops was a fairly young human who was completely bald. Despite the human's ready smile, he seemed a little pale and his eyes looked tired. When he noted the human's 5 silver rank pips, Petmuus slowed his pace and Ses took his cue to stop. Puzzled by the distance at which the two stopped from him, Dermon arose from his seat,

"Is there like a problem or something gentlemen?" Ses laughed,

"My associate is merely in awe of your legendary presence, Commodore."

"Should I be expecting him to begin groveling at my feet and chanting 'I'm not worthy' then?" Dermon responded to the tease. After a few moments, panic began to rise in the Nortanian's expression and the others enjoyed a laugh at his expense. Dermon strode over to the command chair and asked,

"Everything is progressing according to plan correct?"

"Aye sir, I wanted to show you an idea that Lieutenant Petmuus approached me with that I'm sure you'd be interested in." Ses announced as he handed the PADD over. Dermon pored over the contents for several minutes. He then looked up and asked,

"What is the location of the closest 'Shadowcat' to our position?" The female at the helm pointed to a location on the holographic tactical readout between the two stations. As she opened her mouth, Dermon interrupted,

"I thought that was the location of the CHEROKEE..." he frowned and continued, "Someone has got to reset these stations to read standard or at least Drakmärian so I can read them!" As he continued to read, helm announced while Ses glanced at the ops panel to note that it was all in Nortanian,

"Negative sir, the CHEROKEE is heading away from us in a direct line. The 'Shadowcat' is heading roughly toward us at an oblique angle. It is heading toward us directly in line from the SPACEDOCK's position." Dermon looked up in surprise,

"Uh, the SPACEDOCK doesn't _have_ any 'Shadowcats.' In that case, I really want a demonstration of an interlink. When will we be in position to do so Hardison?"

"8 minutes, 12 seconds which will put us 14 minutes from Petmuus' cutoff point." She announced while manipulating the holo-interface to focus on the probe's relative location to theirs. Ses proceeded to Ops and worked the console for a moment and then announced,

"Bridge consoles are now your-lingual Commodore."

"Thank you lieutenant, I appreciate that." Dermon sighed. For a split moment, a sickly look passed over Zach's countenance and he seemed to cringe. Before anybody could say anything, He got out of the center seat and began to trudge to the turbolift, his face pallid. Zach stated as he entered the lift,

"Daynel you have the bridge. Tetris, you set up the link. I'll be back in a few minutes." As they exchanged puzzled looks, Petmuus chuckled lightly as he commented,

"Hrm, that's the first time I've ever been called that—I hope he's not going to check my service record."

"Nah, that's not his style. I think he's headed to sickbay. I heard from SPACEDOCK scuttlebutt that he was accidentally infected with something pretty nasty while saving someone else's life on an away mission and the treatments are worse than the infection."

_**CYGNUS**_

"It's settled then, I'll beam over there and then the CYGNUS will take this new route to the SPACEDOCK. Hersh out." The Commodore closed the channel from the MERCY, and the screen went back to the view of the Shadowlands. Ses turned to Dermon who was slouching slightly in his command chair and seemed more than a little distracted.

"Sir even with our enhanced shields, it's going to get rather tight in that 'tunnel' I'd really recommend someone man the Tactical situation from the bridge." The Trill suggested while glancing at Petmuus, who was gazing longingly at the station in question.

"Sounds neat. I should probably go meet Hersh when he arrives. Due to the emergency recall order we received via the Shadowcat, I want to ensure that we are battle ready stat." Dermon paused then arose from his seat as though in pain. Having been a doctor as a former host, Ses assisted him and said gently,

"Commodore, I'd suggest you go get some rest. You've been under a great deal of stress. You have two quite capable Nortanians to handle the bridge for the time being. I will go meet Hersh for you." Dermon nodded and smiled,

"Is this your way of applying to be my personal physician?"

"No sir, but should that become a career goal of mine, I assure you I am most qualified." Ses replied tit-for-tat to the lighthearted jibe.

_**CYGNUS**_

"Captain Nelson, I'm leaving you in command of the remaining craft. Whether you remain aboard the royal yacht TREENOR or transfer to the MERCY is up to your discretion. An emergency recall has been issued to Star Corps personnel, and I have taken the position as exec of the CYGNUS. Your only order is to get these craft back to the SPACEDOCK." Hersh said to the image on the bridge's view screen. The Nortanian he was addressing answered,

"Understood, Commodore. We wish you and your crew safe journey." Hersh nodded his approval and closed the channel.

"Hardison, get us underway best speed. Ses, I realize you're an engineer, but you're also the closest I have to an expert on this vessel, so I'd prefer you to stay here on the bridge. Man the Ops terminal and keep me from blowing this ship up" the adopted Nortanian delegated and the Trill chuckled as he sketched a salute in reply, "Petmuus, I'm as much for the regulations as anyone at flag rank but I have never felt the need to snap someone's back to let then know where they and I stand. The CO of this vessel gave you an order, and I expect you to abide by it to the best of your ability. Furthermore, you stay out of my way and I won't make an issue out of _IT_—am I understood?" From tactical, he replied with a quiet, succinct, and courteous 'aye sir.' From the use of the word _it_, Petmuus knew that Hersh was telling him. He knew.

(Mere hours after the CHEROKEE's departure, a Starfleet Battlegroup arrives with the news that intelligence reports have a joint Romulan-Cardassian-Jerichan attack force heading for the Spacedock. A fierce battle results and although outnumbered, the Alliance-Federation craft prevail. A major tactical advantage is that the Spacedock is able to project a web-like neutrino field within the Durkin Net satellite system which causes even cloaked ships to have an odd 'glow' about them. The CHEROKEE begins to experience engine trouble during the return trip. One of the engines continually increases speed gradually and all efforts to shut it down or find another solution are in vain. In a last-ditch emergency effort, the mechanism holding the nacelle to the CHEROKEE is explosively removed. This action in turn causes catastrophic damage to all power systems and even emergency backups fail.)

_**SPACEDOCK CHARLES DARWIN**_

The CYGNUS had appeared just moments ago on Ramoth's scanners as it cleared the Shadowland's local event horizon. Jarrad had been informed that the engineering support vessel's tactical capability was severely compromised but they would stand by if any vessel needed to evacuate. Dermon had already seen to the integrity of his starship's enhanced shields. Hersh had also informed Jarrad that, although it had been moderately damaged in a battle a couple days ago and was just now on its way to Nortania, the Grand Paladin MAGAR Hound was diverting to lend assistance. A thought had occurred to Jarrad following an offhand comment by O'Camp about how many Jerichan scout craft there were, but he had dismissed it. Unbeknownst to them all, if the CYGNUS had done a scan of the area outside the neutrino field they would have spotted three Jerichan fatherships laying in wait.

_**SPACEDOCK CHARLES DARWIN**_

Jarrad watched as the regrouped fleet commenced the attack. He was beginning to tire. It had been almost 18 hours since he had had any rest, and this battle had been happening for the past 6. He grimaced as the battleship INGRAM took a direct hit to the deflector and most of the lights on her secondary hull went dark. Mercifully, the Cardassian quickly lost interest after disabling her. Jarrad took grim satisfaction as the next moment the juggernaut GOLIATH and the striker-scout KRIZU nailed the Cardassian in a wicked crossfire. He also noted that the battleship KRIEGGOTT was acquitting herself nicely although she had a nacelle that was leaking plasma badly. Her captain had not allowed two Jerichan scouts to outmaneuver him in a potentially deadly pincer attack. The destroyers INTENSITY, CHIEFTAIN, and CRUSADER were all playing a type of 'zone offense' in that they were in a loose formation to each other and using only thrusters to maneuver. Any ship that attacked one had to deal with all three and the destroyers were heading deeper into the thick of the battle. Only a few of the Romulans made it through the line and the ones who did were quickly handled by the waiting Starfleet craft. After about 2 hours of this, during which 8 of the Star Corps starships were disabled, the MAGAR HOUND arrived. The Nortanian Grand Paladin literally swooped in, birdlike. Though tired, the Grand Admiral could readily spot the damage it had received from the recent battle it was returning. The frigate KESTREL had just taken one hit more than it could handle and was using its one remaining thruster to retreat when the MAGAR HOUND intervened and smashed the attacking Romulan with its blasters. The MAGAR HOUND, still on the move, then launched its contingent of 4 Paladins and 12 Stingers. Over the comlink, Jarrad heard the flight leader for the Nortanian fighter craft announce,

"Stinger contingent form up on Rogue fighters. We're here to act as backup." Jarrad's attention was suddenly arrested as he heard another Nortanian voice over the link,

"Commence transverse firing pattern!" He quickly manipulated the holo-interface to display the location of the last transmission. He watched fascinated as two Paladins did a strange 'dance' around a Cardassian vessel. The Cardassian did not even land a hit while the two vastly smaller craft took only a few minutes to reduce it to so much debris. Jarrad observed,

"The Nortanians sure don't have a subtle way of doing anything, do they?" Keurh turned to him and smiled,

"I've never found cause for complaint with any of their customs." Jarrad started to protest the innocent nature of his comment when he realized that the Vedek was teasing him.

_**ROGUE SPACEDOCK GOLD LEAD**_

"Confirmed, MAGAR 5, you and your wingman may form up on us—try to keep up." Salvador replied to the stinger pilot's request. In the back of his mind, he figured that the naming structure for the Nortanian fighters was the same as those for his fleet. Just last month, he had been the pilot for the first wingman for the blue team aboard the frigate GOSHAWK, his designation being Goshawk Blue 2. He switched over his comlink to address all Rogue fighters and announced,

"To those teams who are being joined by stingers, listen up. They don't have the speed or defensive capabilities you do. Adjust your shield alignment and speed accordingly. They are also much more maneuverable so stay tight to your targets. Messiah out." From above and behind him, Tannor murmured from the turret,

"Those Stingers are leaving me pretty useless. By the time this new enhanced system had acquired, MAGAR 6 had already blasted the Jerichan fighter without breaking formation." As Salvador commenced his next run, he mused that the new upgrades for his team were working well. He was sure that after this he would have no problem taking his recommendations for fleet standardization to Commodore Dermon. The young Hispanic watched as the upgraded phasers chewed away at the Romulan's dorsal shields until they failed. Instead of the standard beam style phasers, the new ones were a quick series of split-second pulses. This not only increased the firepower, but also reduced the stress on the heat sinks. As he peeled off the strafing run, he fired a torpedo while informing Sa'don,

"Lock it on to side of forward structure." There came a hissing buzz from the just discharged launcher. The old launcher had carried 5 torpedoes, the new ones carried 3 along with a dedicated replicator to replace those fired. Two more passes destroyed the Warbird, and Salvador turned to engage the next capital ship when Sa'don announced,

"We have several dozen Jerichan fighter craft approaching us…they just appeared on the scanner from out of nowhere. Position is 275 mark 038."

"OK time to get down and dirty. We have to keep the fighters from our cap ships now. Have the Wayfarers and Runabouts be the last line of defense." Jesús ordered.

_**GRAND PALADIN MAGAR HOUND**_

Something was very wrong. Moments ago, one of the 3 remaining Paladins had abruptly broken off contact as it was skimming through cloud cover while heading to perform air support. The next closest Paladin was diverted to investigate and moments after indicating it had found material that matched the composition of the missing craft's hull descending through the atmosphere, scanners showed a massive energy burst in the vicinity. Contact was lost with that one as well. The order was given for the starship to enter the atmosphere. The MAGAR HOUND was just coming over the horizon when it got a good look at the problem; clearly outlined on sensors against the cloud it was hiding inside, the breaking dawn revealed a cloaked Jerichan Fathership! The CO reached over to his comm console and announced,

"Attention Jerichan vessel! This is Laird Gregory Condvik of the Nortanian militia Grand Paladin MAGAR HOUND GP-28. You are ordered to drop your cloak and prepare to be boarded, you have 5 seconds to comply and there will be no further warnings." After counting 5 seconds aloud and receiving no response, Condvik ordered,

"Militant Permesentz, fire starburst salvo!" The junior officer acknowledged the order and fired the torpedoes. Not wanting to take the chance that the Jerichans were employing a phase-cloak, the tactical officer detonated the starbursts within 5 meters of the Fathership. The cloak 'flowed' away in a sequence that could only be described as looking like the craft poured itself into solidity. The Jerichan craft began to rise using it maneuvering thrusters and fired its heavy disruptors. One of the hits struck one of the MAGAR HOUND's wings right where it met the fuselage. The operations officer, a Senior Lieutenant who shared Condvik's last name but was no relation, was thrown clear of his station. The Laird called for a medic as he ordered an 'at will' firing pattern. The Militant found one blaster bar with sufficient firepower and managed to fire several shots before another discharge from the Jerichan's disruptor hit home and main power went out. The MAGAR HOUND was now falling, dead stick, at full thruster speed into Drakmär IV's atmosphere!

Not far from the capitol city of Sh'kr, the first hint of dawn was just beginning to glow. With only the faintest sliver of gray threatening to impose on the eastern sky the energy exchange 5 Kilometers above was unmistakable. Primus Dr'kn-Z grinned in smug satisfaction as he watched dozens of discharges from various locations streak up to meet the departing craft. The energy beams of different types danced over the ventral surface of the ascending craft, although few of them had enough firepower to do damage at that range.

_**CYGNUS**_

"Dude like how do you say 'here I come to save the day!' in Nortanian?" A refreshed Dermon requested of Hersh, who, along with Petmuus was preparing the tractor beam for an unusual task. The CYGNUS was racing to the area above the endangered MAGAR HOUND while the SPACEDOCK beamed off all the Nortanian vessel's occupants as a precaution. Ses and Dermon came up with a theory that they could pull the Grand Paladin out of the atmosphere if they fine-tuned the tractor beam to as narrow a beacon as possible and then only pulled on a section at a time for a couple seconds at a time. If that failed and it went below an altitude of 5 kilometers, the Juggernaut GALACTICA was to disperse it using its megaphaser cannons once it arrived in 3 minutes. Ses said something in Nortanian as the two Nortanians glanced at each other in confusion and all except Dermon began laughing hysterically. Dermon shot Hersh a withering look and Antoné translated,

"Ah I get it Commodore humor…laugh or you go on report!" Dermon tried a mock pout but could not help grinning at his own expense. From the helm Hardison called out,

"We're in position. Ready for tractor operation." Since Petmuus was the most familiar with the station's controls, he operated the beam while Ses and Hersh monitored and Ses made adjustments at the engineering station. Hersh was at the Ops station and was just starting to grin about the fact that they had less than 1 kilometer to go before they could switch back to standard tractor beam operations when he noticed something,

"I'm getting a strange energy reading from the Jerichan ship. It looks like some sort of energy surge." A concerned Dermon strode over to the Ops panel and asked,

"Is it their weapons? I thought we'd determined that offensive weaponry looked as if it had been transferred to their thrusters." Hersh shook his head,

"It looks like the ground fire might have damaged something. The energy surge seems focused on one section of the ventral area and seems to be bleeding off from various other areas. Their rate of ascent seems to be slowing…" Hersh's voice trailed off as he noticed another reading appear on his panel that seemed to contradict the first. He tapped a couple keys and felt a chill run through his entire body as he shouted,

"Disconnect the tractor beam! Brace for impact!" There was not time to disconnect the beam completely and Dermon watched in horror as the Jerichan went to impulse to try to save itself. The outside edge of the Fathership's docking bay collided with one of the Grand Paladin's wings and both exploded. Petmuus was still valiantly trying to shut down the tractor beam when Ses bolted from his chair to tackle the Nortanian the instant before the tactical station overloaded. Hersh and Hardison swung around in their chairs to see the explosion and then glanced at each other. They shared a look of empathy that only one who had a Nortanian constitution could comprehend. Without a word, they both dove for the floor as their stations overloaded. All lights went down with a winding metallic whine whose tone went deeper as it continued for several seconds. No emergency lights came on; the only illumination came from the series of dimly flickering workstations along the back wall. The two Nortanians with their feline-like eyes were able to adapt to the dimness easiest and headed toward the workstations.

"Don't go back there." Dermon requested. They all stopped short and started to protest when Dermon continued. His voice was steady but Hersh could hear a hint of resignation in his next words,

"The CYGNUS is gone, she's breaking up. The explosion caused a cascade overload of the EPS system and that is tearing apart the SIF. That in turn will tear the ship apart as the sabotage has left her physical integrity lacking. Tetris, contact the other Nortanians via your Datalink and tell them we're abandoning ship. Hardison, do the same to inform the GALACTICA to add the CYGNUS to its targets. Now we need to get to the escape pod." Ses piped up in admiration,

"Wow! It takes years to get that acclimated to a station to do a diagnostic by audio reference only. By the way, as _Petmuus_ is informing the other Nortanians, we can use the site-to-site transporter in the Datalink as an ideal escape method."

"Petmuus! Oh; my apologies Lieutenant!" Bari frowned as he replied while glancing uncomfortably at the floor,

"That's fine, it's all fun and games Commodore." He then mumbled under his breath that the last time he'd had bridge duty, he'd been called a lot worse by his CO. Dermon chuckled ruefully and saluted his old chair as the Nortanians prepped their Datalinks for the transport. As a look of deep regret imbedded itself into Zach's countenance, Hersh came to attention and commanded,

"A-tench-hut! Pre-sent Harms!" Zach made a mental note as he watched the Nortanians salute. It was a variation of the Klingon salute. The hand slapped the chest with an open hand and then swung out using the elbow as an axis to the point where the hand was palm forward at ear level, the elbow never having moved. In a choked whisper from fighting the tears, he said,

"Order arms. Energize." As the beams took hold, he finished by saying, "Farewell dear friend, watch over my Dad, Stepmother, Stepfather, and Elle."

_**FINALE**_

**(Note: This addendum to the file is included as it contains information that directly affects or results from the events related in main file)**

(The Spacedock's sickbay is full and with various crews working together in different sections of sickbay, the CMO is relegated to managerial duties)

While passing the bay windows at the entrance to sickbay, Vitro spotted Dermon and Hersh along with a group of Nortanians. He walked up to them and commented,

"Glad to see you guys made it back. Zach, I want you to get checked out and get a Rapticilin booster shot." Dermon nodded acknowledgment and Vitro started to continue on his way when he noticed the spots on Ses' face,

"Excuse me Mr. Trill but have you ever had a host who was a doctor?"

"Once or twice about a century or so ago." To Vitro, that was an utterly bizarre statement but he realized that it was culturally appropriate. The surgeon general replied,

"Great! You're hired then. Take this in case anyone asks any questions and get to work." He peeled off his lab coat and tossed it at the young man as he turned and walked away. Vitro did not get very far when he was paged over the intercom,

"_Dr. Vitro to sickbay lobby stat_!" When Vitro arrived, he was greeted by a distinguished-looking middle aged Nortanian whose uniform bore the distinguishing feature of having a blue sash. Vitro had never before seen one of those. The man announced as he gestured with a small case he was carrying,

"I'm General Orion of the Militia Reserve. My Doctor is busy with the crew of the CHEROKEE so I thought I'd see if I could help around here?"

"The CHEROKEE! What happened?"

"It seems that there was some sabotage which caused a major explosion when they dropped out of warp upon leaving the Shadowlands. We think it might have happened before they left spacedock. Some fast thinking on the part of the engineering crew saved the ship at the last second but left the ship in serious trouble. All the crew survived but they were pretty banged up, and life support was almost gone by the time we found them. None of them were conscious and that was more than I can say for their ship as it will probably have to be scrapped."

"OK now how much medical experience do you have?"

"About the same amount as a typical intern. However, I did bring along a Medical Entity Dynamic Interface Caretaker, which is the Nortanian version of the Federation's EMH." Vitro rolled his eyes at the thought of a holographic doctor but consented. As Orion opened the case and withdrew a small cylinder, Vitro noticed that much of the preliminary triage was being done by Mainframe. Vitro frowned at how 'artificial' medicine had become over the years and watched as Orion tapped a few keys on his Datalink and the MEDIC hologram seemed to grow out of the cylinder.

Lieutenant Commander Daynel Hardison was sitting on a bench in the Spacedock's 'open-air' parkland. She was sitting directly across from the hospital facilities but the way she was sitting, with one leg tucked under and the corresponding arm draped over the back; she was facing the Evacuation Transporter facility. All the marines and assorted other combatants who were not injured seriously were scattered throughout the area. Many were sleeping, some were still too keyed up or scared and were quietly keeping their positions, and others were maintaining a sense of hyper-vigilance and were walking around making small talk. The Nortanians who were nearby were just beginning to get tired. Although most of them were pilots, they had been put in charge of maintaining order because of their higher constitution. Although some had acknowledged her because of her species, they had not necessarily included her in their interactions. She had been raised on the outer colony-planet Elka, which barely registered a class M because of the radiation of the proximity from the Shadowlands. Members of the Dark Band who thought that killing a government official would restart the civil war and give them a way to take power had killed her natural parents. A family in the human colony had adopted her and her complexion was somewhat pale by comparison. Early on, she had thought that the Militia would never accept her and had signed up for the Star Corps. Although she had never regretted her decision, when Commodore Hersh had offered her a transfer to the Militia at a grade of Major ("Not command-level mind you, I'd prefer to earn that on merit.") she had actually asked him to let her think about it. She took in a deep sigh and considered how sweet the air smelled in the park. She had been told that this was not just from the natural vegetation, but occasionally the air was also recycled via transporter from the planet. A familiar, commanding presence arrested her attention as he stepped out of the turbolift. A middle-aged woman with regal bearing who wore a Starfleet Commodore's uniform met Jarrad. Starfleet quickly went about adjusting her hair as she approached Jarrad from the direction of the guest quarters access. Hardison noted that the Commodore had been quickly blinking away the redness in her eyes when she had walked past. She must have been catching up on some rest in a rank-afforded private suite. The two Flag officers came to a stop in front of the transporter station and Jarrad said something to the attendant before they both came to attention. All the murmuring among the Drakmärians came to a halt as a figure materialized. Many of the Drakmärians began to get to their feet out of respect for the figure since he had some type of jeweled symbol of office hanging around his neck over his robe. The figure paused to wave a dismissive hand to his exhausted fellow citizens and Jarrad turned his head to make eye contact with a nearby officer to nod assent before they all breathed a collective sigh of relief and plopped back down. The dignitary spoke briefly to Jarrad, who pointed to the hospital entrance before they all began to make their way over to the facility. Along the way, Jarrad made eye contact, smiled, and waved at many those scattered near him. Just as they were approaching the main doors, Jarrad spotted the group of Nortanians and waved them over. The others all took a couple steps and then noticed that she had not moved. They all came to attention suddenly and the senior most said,

"My apologies for the breach in protocol sir, I had no intention of usurping your authority and it will not be repeated." Hardison nearly fell out of her chair. It was not that they did not consider her part of them but that they thought she was maintaining traditional command posture—relaxed, observing, and reserved. She swung to her feet and led them over to where the dignitary was waiting. Jarrad was speaking Drakmärian to the man as they approached and Hardison's Datalink had not gotten enough of the conversation yet to interpret via its translation matrix. All she knew is that she heard the human word _messiah_ a couple times and that caused the Nortanians behind her to whisper among themselves. She brought them to a halt a few meters away from him. She prepared to announce their reporting when he interrupted her. Jarrad smiled,

"As you were. This is Sanndor-W, a nobleman from R'zal'Shii IV…" Jarrad paused as the Nortanians and Sanndor exchanged bows. _Great_, Daynel thought,_ I go from just another courier squad leader, to chief helm of a starship, to officer exchange program candidate, to unit commander, to ambassador all in a space of one day! Either the Mystic must be really happy or really annoyed with me today…I wonder which?_ Jarrad continued, "As I was telling his eminence, this is the team that gave air support to the spacedock's fighter contingent during their defense of the canyon. The Lieutenant Commander was instrumental in handling the Fathership that entered the planet's atmosphere near the capitol city. He wishes to visit with a relative here who was involved with your part of the situation as well as handle some official state business and would be honored if you took part." Due to the fatigue that seemed to be etched on his features, Jarrad did not even wait for a response as he led the group into the hospital. All the Drakmärians they passed came to attention upon seeing the nobleman and Jarrad gave a few words of encouragement to those who acknowledged him. Many who were still awake were too sedated to notice or care. Jarrad spoke in hushed tones to an individual with silvery skin who seemed to be completely nonplussed by the noble's presence. Hardison recalled something about a being matching this description during her days at TIST as well as having heard one of the Hershes mentioning this being in passing during a courier run. The group continued down the hall until they got to a room with a temporary label of **RECOVERY ROOM** marked on the wall next to the door. They entered the room and began making their way over to the PersCO officer's terminal. A young man halfway across the room struggled to his feet and limped to meet them. Daynel heard some murmurs among the Nortanians and she shot them a disproving look to silence them. The young man was obviously Drakmärian, but his head was wrapped in bandages, one eye was nearly swollen shut and he was walking with the aid of a cane. When he spoke, his voice was shaky and hoarse,

"Admiral…uncle; it's good to see you both sirs. To what do I owe the visit?" As he addressed each one, he tried a clumsy salute for the former and nearly fell forward when he tried to bow for the latter. Jarrad replied,

"Ensign Tannor, I am only here at the request of your government. It seems that you have an official duty to perform. Your comrades are here to help you wave the flag out of respect for your conduct." Sanndor spoke next,

"I just got your message and I would like you to introduce me to the one whose call sign is 'Messiah'." The officer addressed his uncle,

"You just missed him; he was cleared to leave not a minute ago." Sanndor made a gesture for him to lead the way. As they headed to the door, Jarrad gestured to an orderly who met them at the door with a Gravity Individual Mobility Porter. While they set the GIMP for Tannor to control with his unbandaged left hand, Jarrad determined their destination after consulting the computer. Moments later, they found who they were looking for. When Jarrad saw the look on the man's face, he wished he could simply call this little ceremony off—it simply was not the right time for sentimentality. The young man usually had a ready smile and a self-assured cocky air about him. Just now, he was leaning his fingertips against a series of windows in the hallway, staring at the room inside. Not only did he have a thousand-yard stare, he was also mumbling to himself in his native tongue. Since Jarrad was not very fluent, he was not able to pick up more than a couple words, but heard the word for "sorry" several times. Since the window was past the door to the room, when an occupant of the room walked up to the window and waved him in; he turned and faced the group. It was not until he had taken two steps and been ready to enter the door when he noticed them. He stopped short, and his bloodshot eyes flew open wide. Jarrad quickly whispered instructions to Daynel and she nodded comprehension. She quickly entered the room with the other Nortanians following and explained what they were to do. While they prepared, Jarrad could be heard speaking,

"Sanndor, you wished to be introduced to the pilot known as Messiah due to the cultural significance of his birth name. Lieutenant Commander Salvador, this is Patrician Sanndor-W, tribal overlord and Tannor-K's uncle." Daynel could hear a pregnant pause and then Sanndor said,

"Come, follow me, and I will explain!" The four poured into the room to see the pilots making two columns leading to a bed. Sanndor stopped before the column, turned to Jesús and announced,

"It is my understanding that Ensign Sa'don had no family. Since you are the last to hold authority over him, I am here to humbly request you release the body to me so I can inter the body in a place of honor in the family crypt." Salvador quietly nodded and the two proceeded to the bed where the young Ops officer's still form lay. Finding his voice, the pilot requested,

"Admiral if I may ask a favor? I'd like to recommend a commander's commendation for my crewmen?" Jarrad nodded and informed him to consider it done. The irrepressible Tannor boasted,

"Oh nice, nice! That will make me a shoo-in for the DFC as well as a Sword of Valor ribbon!" Dartanion grinned at him and chuckled dryly,

"You really think so, huh son!" Tannor cringed and his voice trailed off as he made a comment about Star Corps policy on the granting of achievements. The gunner suddenly piped up again,

"Aww… That is lame! Had _Pinch_ lived, he'd be sure to have gotten Lieutenant at the board in 2 weeks!" In reply, Jarrad mused,

"Now _that_ I can arrange!" At Jarrad's request, Tannor explained that the Ensign had gained the call sign 'Pinch' by being the member of unit to call on if you needed help since he had a way of coming through in a pinch. Jarrad asked the pilot if he knew how it had happened and the Hispanic man shook his head silently. Hardison spoke up and answered,

"One of my subordinates here saw it happen. The Jerichan _Thunder_-class fighter struck the left wing of your Rogue, shearing it off and leaving a nasty hole in the side. Your comrade was sucked out through that hole at about 10 meters. Your craft came to a near dead stop and went into a crazily spinning belly flop. The impact had jammed the pilot's auto-release on his restraint harness and sent the gunner flying into the rest pods in the aft section of the compartment. Which was quite lucky, since you landed on your right wing and came to rest upside-down."

Personal Log of Commodore Zachary Dermon. The command staff has all gotten a good night's sleep and Jarrad has called a mandatory command meeting in the main mess hall. I have a feeling I know what this is all about and am anticipating the news. I am hoping that it will allow me to bring about some much-needed changes where technology development is concerned. I do have some regrets about the loss of my dream, but I know this next step holds a special promise for me as far as my future goals are concerned.

"…So, in closing, I say that although many lives have been changed, none of the sacrifice was in vain. The Primus wishes to extend his formal gratitude to one and all for this achievement. At his request, nearly everyone will be receiving a formal commendation and all pending promotions have been approved across the board. Admiral Gibson Porter has informed me that a number of our Starfleet comrades who took part in the recent battle are duly impressed and wish to transfer as part of the officer exchange program. We welcome these new additions to our ranks and wish them well. Those from the Star Corps who wish to take part please feel free to contact Lieutenant Valentine, who will be taking part in this exchange himself. I, for one, will miss him. Speaking of missing people the time has come for Commodore Antoné Hersh to go into a brief retirement so that he may tend to official government business at home. This has left an opening at Starbase Nortania for a qualified administrator who has my full confidence to run the facility and represent the Star Corps in the same manner he has grown accustomed to in his current posting. I know you will do us all proud Commodore Dermon! This will automatically promote his 'number one' to the Number One position around here—_haha_! Now please everyone enjoy the festivities at the pleasure of the Primus. Thank you all!" Jarrad finished his speech and turned from the lectern. Dermon turned to face O'Camp and shook the offered hand while the chaplain smiled,

"Congratulations! I kind of figured I was going to wind up in charge of a facility someday!" Dermon had known his academy roommate too long and too well not to notice that Brian's smile ended at his lips, his eyes contained another emotion altogether. _Wait a minute! Did O'Camp also want Nortania? He never said anything…Well there is a lot of work to do there, and we have worked well here. From what Hersh says, I can definitely use all the help I can get and with Brian's background, I should be able to have him consult on preparing "my" Starbase for any Jerichan event_. He was planning to broach the subject when his friend disappeared into the crowd. O'Camp was wandering through the crowd, distracted by his thoughts and not at all happy with any of the recently transpired events. The Captain was so deep in thought that he did not notice Commodore Jade until he almost walked into her. She made some comment about the exchange program and that she had an ideal candidate to replace the departing Assistant Chief of Operations. He replied that Ops was still his domain and there probably were not going to be too many changes there, but he'd consider any qualified referral to the Chief of Staff office. Jade indicated the officer in question who was facing the other direction from them both while chatting with another officer. Jade mentioned the transferee's name, but he did not pay too much attention as he indicated he had some business to attend. O'Camp then made a beeline for the door just wanting to find somewhere he could be alone with his thoughts.

"Hey Zach, I thought for sure I'd find Brian chatting it up with you?" Pr'gn said as he approached the man he was replacing as the head of the Alliance Engineering Corps.

"No I think he needed some breathing space after all the excitement. By the way, I wanted to have a little chat with you. See that man over there between the Avion and the Lunärian?" Pr'gn looked and saw an individual that almost melted into the crowd. He was so nondescript Pr'gn almost missed him. The man's eyes flicked around the surroundings and rested on the engineer for but a split second. For some reason, even that moment sent a chill down Pr'gn's spine. Dermon continued after waving in the man's direction, "He's Jericho Stone, retired Federation Special Operations. He has a rather unique vessel that he uses, and we have a special arrangement that I'd like for you to continue. You keep any parts he needs available without question at no charge, and anytime you have a mission that needs deniability or anything obtained just ask him. He runs a courier service, and my dealings with his crew can best be described as 'honest.' I would suggest you find your new boss and let him in on it now as well. There is a file named '7' which is the name of Stone's ship that I'd like you to take a look at in the engineering files."

In the next 3 days, 386 Alliance personnel were exchanged for 512 from the Federation. Pr'gn had the AEC finish the work on the damaged vessels while he led the team to resurrect the CHEROKEE. The council decreed that by custom, the valiant destroyer's name was to be retired. Pr'gn was not happy with this since he did not fully understand the custom until Jarrad explained it to him. Essentially, ships that had been commissioned less than a year and were involved in a catastrophic incident had their names retired whether or not the ship was rebuilt, out of respect for the builders. This was supposed to ensure that the builders did not get repetition fatigue by constantly working on the same project repeatedly. It was small consolation to Pr'gn when Jarrad informed him that the new name would likely be the Cherokee word for '_Cherokee_' or **_TSALAGI_**.

**(Note: The following information is not directly related to file contents but is included here for informational purposes and archival research integrity)**

_**EPILOGUE**_

Over the next couple of years, the conflict continued. Though not an officially declared war, the battles became more intense and more often. Dermon's health continued to decline and O'Camp continued to consult on the upgrades to the facility at Nortania. During a critical phase of the project, Dermon overexerted himself and had to take sick time. O'Camp and Pr'gn went and visited Starbase Nortania during Dermon's convalescence and ensured that everything continued to move smoothly. Unfortunately, a member of the Admiralty decided it was inappropriate to leave their command unattended and took control of the Spacedock in their absence. This action opened the door for the officer to charge them with dereliction of duty and remove them from both current positions. Pr'gn And O'Camp were demoted and transferred to Jarrad's supervision aboard the TANELORN. Pr'gn quickly regained his rank when he was promoted back to captain upon being offered command of the MERCY. The position became available when Vitro transferred to the Fleet Development Center. O'Camp also regained his rank. He was promoted to first officer of the TANELORN when Potter decided he no longer had any interest in delaying his tenure any further. When Hersh returned to active duty following his obligations to his government, he accepted Pr'gn's offer to become the MERCY's first officer. The flagship's patrol route continued to ferry O'Camp to Nortania to assist Dermon with the ongoing upgrade project and Jarrad even teased his first officer that one day he would forget him there. After a joint TANELORN-MERCY mission during which a Jerichan attacker was able to hold off the MERCY and the TANELORN arrived too late to prevent the deployment of a planet-killer, Pr'gn confided in O'Camp. He informed him that while the MERCY had been making regular checkup trips to Nortania to keep abreast of Dermon's declining health, Pr'gn had used the occasions to make some contacts in the local community. Once his tour of duty was over, the engineer was considering finally retiring to found his own company. When a request was made for design consultants to advance the Alliance-class project under construction, Pr'gn accepted the offered Temporary Duty Assignment Transfer. He was ending his TDAT when the MERCY joined the NARNIA on a diplomatic mission to Rileus. The Rileans had just finished signing the Alliance charter when a Jerichan fathership attacked which destroyed the MERCY and cripples the NARNIA. The Rileans were able to beat back the attacker and tow the NARNIA home with a completely smashed computer system. Hersh is promoted for saving most of his crew and accepts a command position on the planet side NORTANIA PROJECT. A member of the council informs Jarrad that he is to personally open diplomatic relations with an enigmatic new race called the Berger. The new race seems somewhat Xenophobic, communicating only via audio and scrambling their transmissions to make them impossible to track. On top of that, they only issue communiqués and decline all attempts at real-time interactions. All attempts to gain information are met with the most generic of replies, yet they seem to know a considerable amount about the Alliance. The conflict continues to progress according to plan until the Berger inform Jarrad via the council that they are looking forward to meeting him. During this meeting, the Berger ambassadors reveal they are the true leaders of the Jerichan people and the meeting was a ruse to get close to the Nortanian planet. When the flagship is crippled, Dermon transports over to assist in the evacuation and realizes the damaged systems are causing an overload within the warp core/atomizer setup. While keeping propulsion manually active, he manages to get the TANELORN far enough away from the station to protect the station from the explosion, which kills him.

(Author's note: the original concept for Swan Song had Dermon killed while using the CYGNUS to rescue a crippled Spacedock Charles Darwin during a Jerichan attack there was multiple plot line ideas developed for this story. With Zach's death, another project caused the continuity to be altered. The plot was written into this story to honor his wish that his starship design/concept die with him. Very little editing was done on this story from the original versions of the source stories as compared to Trail Of Tears.)


End file.
